Is it time to switch to insulin pump?
If we are Type 1 diabetic or type 2 diabetic in some cases, insulin doses are part of daily life. We take these through multiple shots from a syringe, needle or pen. The current standard treatment is one daily shot of long-acting insulin plus shots of fast-acting insulin for meals.
We take insulin for our daily routine to control our blood glucose ( sugar) levels so that we can have better chances of a complication-free life and farther away from heart disease, strokes, kidney disease, circulation problems, and blindness. Diabetes management means balancing the day-to-day demands of our disease with that of our lives’ other necessities.
As we manage our lives through insulin injection – the most popular method of getting an insulin shot – there are occasions when we have low blood glucose levels because we use different types of insulin and engage in erratic eating patterns. Sometimes, we develop resistant areas in our body where insulin will not be absorbed properly because of longterm frequent injections. There are also instances when we forget our specific doses at a particular time of the day, or we develop skin pockets due to multiple injections, or we get inaccurate amount of insulin due to manual injection.
All these drawbacks can now take a back seat with the insulin pump’s arrival. An insulin pump is a computerized device – about the size of a palm – that contains a cartridge full of insulin for delivery into our body through plastic tubing called an “infusion set.” The infusion set is placed under our skin in an insertion location, which we have to change every three to six days.
Thus, insulin pump makes it possible for the multiple daily injections of about 4 to 5, to only one re-insertion in 3 to 6 days. Because of this, most experts and patients believe that the insulin pump is best because it works so much like our own pancreas, the body organ that makes the hormone insulin and which helps control blood sugar levels. Those who have already walked out of their multiple injections scheme in favor of the insulin pump now realize that the pump takes better control of their blood sugar.
Doctors recommend insulin pump for those who have problems with regulating blood sugar or those who cannot achieve good control with injections despite their best efforts. It is also often the choice of patients who have excellent control with their injections, but nonetheless want further improvement in controlling their glucose levels.
An insulin pump uses only fast-acting insulin, which we may program to deliver a trickle of insulin called a “basal dose” all day long, and arrange to give us a “bolus” or a booster dose during meals. Both our basal and bolus doses can be changed at any time with precision.
When we decide to switch from injection to the pump, we will need sufficient training where we learn how the device works, how to insert and disconnect it, and how to operate and program it as well. We will also have to learn how to troubleshoot the insulin pump when it malfunctions. We do not actually have to throw away our injection or pen right away, since we still can keep them as back-ups or contingencies.
Before utilizing the insulin pump, it is important for us to learn how to count carbohydrates. This is a vital skill required to help us decide how much fast-acting or “bolus” insulin doses to take with our meals. Switching to the pump will also entail testing our blood sugar levels more often. As the pump is capable of very precise adjustments in insulin delivery, the only way to finetune our adjustments is through frequent tests of blood sugar.
Hence, switching to a pump initially takes patience – a few weeks of trial and error – before we really get the hang of it. Yet we feel it is more than worth the preparation invested in since once we have mastered the skills required, the outcomes are improved blood glucose control and lower risk for diabetes complications.
However, the most common resistance to pump switching pertains to the aspect of having something attached to the body all the time. This inconvenience is greatly overshadowed by the subsequent realization that having such an attachment may actually give us more freedom in terms of when and how much we eat, as well as in when and how hard we exercise.
Insulin pumps are definitely very helpful for athletes, and those with hectic and irregular schedules. Even children prefer to use an insulin pump since they are generally so familiar with computers and electronic devices that they often use the pump with ease. For the vast majority of adult and pediatric patients who have already made the switch, the insulin pump provides immense advantages that they are not willing to revert back to their previous method of insulin injection to manage their diabetes.
Mindful of the benefits and the technicalities involved in the emerging insulin delivery system and committed to achieving better lives for diabetics, St. Luke’s Medical Center has established the Philippines’ first Insulin Pump Clinic. The facility offers installation, maintenance, education, training, and 24/7 patient support for the breakthrough technology in insulin pump therapy and continuous glucose monitoring. Among the country’s most competent team of endocrinologists and Certified Pump Trainers comprise the Clinic’s staff, who are united in their common objective of making all diabetics feel better and enjoy a better quality of life. For more information, call the St. Luke’s Insulin Pump Clinic at 7230101/0301 ext. 5210 (Quezon City) or 7897700 ext. 2086 (Global City).